Polegate
Polegate is a town and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, United Kingdom. It is located five miles north of the seaside resort of Eastbourne and is part of the greater area of that town. Although once a railway settlement, its importance as such has now waned by route closures; the civil parish of Polegate had a population of 8,586 on 41.2 % aged 65 and over. Until the coming of the railways in the 1840s, Polegate was a small settlement within the parish of Hailsham; the Roman road from Pevensey to Lewes passed through here, the turnpike between London and Eastbourne was developed in the 18th century. It became a significant junction, with a freight terminal serving both the nearby market town of Hailsham and the local brick making industry; the town grew to accommodate the railway employees. In the 12th century, the Premonstratensian order of monks occupied Otham Abbey in the parish, before relocating around 1208 to Bayham Abbey, near Lamberhurst. Two buildings remain of Otteham Court and its Chapel.
In 1851 a church school was established in Polegate. St John's Church was opened on 10 November 1876; the site of the church and the parsonage was donated by Mr Fuller-Meyrick, owner of the Brightling Park Estate. The separate parish of St John's was formed on 26 October 1937, with the first vicar being Rev. John Catterall Salisbury. In 2013 the Parsonage building in Church Road was sold by the Diocese. In the 21st century, with the closure of the line to Hailsham and the once direct route to Hastings, its importance as a railway hub has gone, it remains a road junction, with the erstwhile turnpike now being the A22 road. There are four streets in today's Polegate named for the Levett family; the Anglo-Norman family were early Sussex landowners, held manors and lands across the county, including Firle, Bodiam and elsewhere. The family's lands were carried into the families of Gildredge, the Eversfields of St. Leonards-on-Sea, the Ashburnhams, the Chaloners and others. Polegate is located on a ridge in the gap between the Weald to the South Downs.
To the east lie the Pevensey Levels, the one time bay now converted into farmland with the buildup of the coastal shingle bank during the early Middle Ages. Both the roads and the railway use the gap; the town is becoming part of the greater Eastbourne conurbation, connecting with Willingdon to the south. Many of the town's working population work away: either in Eastbourne or Willingdon. Due to its location situated on the corner of the A27 and A22, it allows easy access to larger cities like Brighton and Hastings in less than an hour. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, there is adequate rainfall year-round; the Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb". Polegate is split into two wards for local elections and South Polegate. North Polegate with 4000 electors is twice the size of South Polegate's 2000 electors, returning twice as many councillors; the Parish is represented at the lowest tier by Polegate Town Council. Fifteen councillors are elected from the two wards every four years.
Public meetings are held monthly at the council chambers in Polegate. The 2007 election returned twelve councillors representing the Polegate residents association, two Liberal Democrats and an Independent; the district council for Polegate is Wealden District Council. District council elections are held every four years. Fifty-five councillors in total are elected, three of these from the Polegate wards; the May 2007 election returned 34 Conservative, 12 Liberal Democrat, 3 Independent Democrat, 3 Wealden Independent, 2 Green Party and 1 no party allegiance. The Polegate councillors parties were 1 Independent Democrat; the next tier of government is the East Sussex County Council with responsibility for education, social services, civil registration, trading standards and transport. Elections for the County Council are held every four years. For these elections Polegate is combined with East Dean to return two seats; the 2009 East Sussex County Council election resulted in 29 Conservatives, 13 Liberal Democrats, 4 Labour and 3 Independent, of which the Polegate and East Dean ward provided two Independent councillors.
Polegate is represented in the UK Parliament by the Lewes constituency. The current serving MP is the Conservative Maria Caulfield who won the seat in the 2015 general election. At European level, Polegate is represented by the South-East region, which holds ten seats in the European Parliament; the June 2004 election returned 4 Conservatives, 2 Liberal Democrats, 2 UK Independence, 1 Labour and 1 Green, none of whom live in East Sussex. Chaucer Industrial Business Park Estate is located on Dittons Road where the major part of Polegate's industrial businesses are located. A number of small-town shops and businesses occupy the High Street, including a supermarket, hair salons, convenience store, as well a Premier Inn hotel to the north of the town; the tower windmill was built in 1817. It is now a working museum. There are two recreation grounds in Polegate, The Brightling Road Recreation Ground to the east of the town and The War Memorial Recreation Ground so the south of the town in Wannock Road.
The Brightling Road Recreation Ground known as the William Daily Recreation Ground has a BMX Track, a Skate Park and a woodland are
Common Room (university)
In some universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland — collegiate universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, as well as King's College London, Dublin University, Durham University, University of York, University of Kent and Lancaster University— students and the academic body are organised into a common room, or at Cambridge a combination room. These groups exist to provide representation in the organisation of college or residential hall life, to operate certain services within these institutions such as laundry or recreation, to provide opportunities for socialising. Though there are variations based on institutional tradition and needs, the following common rooms will exist in a college or hall: Outside the UK, the terms JCR, MCR, SCR are used by Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, the University of Toronto. A Junior Common Room – for undergraduate junior members A Middle Common Room – for graduate junior members A Senior Common Room – for senior members. In addition to this, each of the above phrases may refer to an actual room designated for the use of these groups.
At the University of Cambridge, the term combination room is used, with the same abbreviations. As a generalisation, JCRs are associations of undergraduates and SCRs an association of tutors and academics associated with a college. Postgraduates are sometimes placed in with either of the other groups; this terminology has, in addition, been taken up in some universities in other English speaking nations. The terms JCR, MCR and SCR originated from the University of Cambridge; the terms are now used at ten British universities as well as Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland, Harvard College in the United States of America and at the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto, Canada. Due to the way that the terms have evolved over time and the idiosyncratic nature of university structure, the use of the three terms varies from institution to institution; the main variations involve mature students and postgraduate students. In addition to this, the terms may be used to refer to the elected groups.
Other names such as "Exec" may exist for these. At the University of Oxford, a typical college has a Junior Common Room for undergraduates, a Middle Common Room for graduates and a Senior Common Room for its fellows. JCRs and MCRs have a committee, with a president and so on, that represent their students to college authorities, Oxford University Student Union, etc. in addition to being an actual room for the use of members. SCRs have a President, an academic member of the body who deals with higher-level administrative matters pertaining to the SCR, such as inviting proposed visiting fellows to the body and identifying invited lecturers to any particular college event. SCRs are characterised by a copious provision of coffee and moderately informal space for academics to think and discuss ideas. Wadham College is a notable exception: although it maintains an MCR, its entire student population is represented by a combined Students' Union; the JCR and MCR presidents of all affiliated Oxford Common Rooms, in addition to their OUSU Reps, are automatically voting members of OUSU's governing Council, which meets fortnightly during term to decide on all aspects of OUSU's policy.
OUSU Council meetings take place in odd-numbered weeks of the University term. JCR Presidents get together in even-numbered weeks for meetings of Presidents' Committee. MCR Presidents get together up to three times a term for meetings of the MCR Presidents' Committee. Alternative names are sometimes used for college MCRs. Brasenose College has the "Hulme Common Room", University College has the "Weir Common Room", named in honour of college alumni. At Christ Church, St Antony's and Templeton the representative bodies for postgraduate students are called "Graduate Common Rooms" or "GCRs". At some graduate colleges such as Wolfson, St. Cross and Linacre College and fellows share a single, egalitarian Common Room. In addition, colleges sometimes have additional common rooms, such as the "Summer Common Room" at Magdalen College; these are sometimes, but not always, associated with a particular section of the student or academic body. At the University of Cambridge, most colleges have either common rooms or combination rooms, a tradition dating from the seventeenth century.
The same abbreviations, JCR, MCR, SCR are used for combination rooms. The JCR represents undergraduates, with postgraduate students being members of the Middle Combination Room. In some colleges, postgraduates are members of both the MCR and JCR: for example, at St John's, where the MCR is known as the Samuel Butler Room or at Peterhouse. Most colleges have an SCR. At Pembroke College the common rooms are called "parlours", such as the Junior Parlour and Graduate Parlour. At Jesus College, the JCR is known as "The Jesus College Students' Union", with its physical space being the Marshall Room. Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge has both a JCR, MCR, SCR along with a Sidney Sussex College Students Union of which all students are members. JCRs and MCRs have elected committees to represent their interests within their colleges and in the central students' union. Cambridge University Students' Union; the committees are universally led by a President and a range of other elected positions to cover specific areas or interest or functions.
There is a great deal of variety between the colleges in terms of the role
Trooping the Colour
Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although its roots go back much earlier. On the battlefield, a regiment's colours, or flags, were used as rallying points. Regiments would have their ensigns march with their colours between the ranks to enable soldiers to recognise their regiments' colours. Since 1748, Trooping the Colour has marked the official birthday of the British sovereign, it is held in London annually on a Saturday in June at Horse Guards Parade by St James's Park, coincides with the publication of the Birthday Honours List. Among the audience are the Royal family, invited guests, ticket holders and the general public; the ceremony is broadcast live by the BBC within the UK and is shown in Germany and Belgium. Since 2018, Associated Press has provided live streaming of the event to viewers across the world on the Time magazine YouTube channel and the Facebook page of the British newspaper The Telegraph.
The Queen travels down the Mall from Buckingham Palace in a royal procession with a sovereign's escort of Household Cavalry. After receiving a royal salute, she inspects her troops of the Household Division – both foot guards and horse guards – and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery; each year, one of the foot-guards regiments is selected to troop its colour through the ranks of guards. The entire Household Division assembly conducts a march past the Queen, saluted from the saluting base. Parading with its guns, the King's Troop takes precedence as the mounted troops perform a walk-march and trot-past. Music is provided by the massed bands of the foot guards and the mounted Band of the Household Cavalry, together with a Corps of Drums, pipers, totalling 400 musicians. Returning to Buckingham Palace, the Queen watches a further march-past from outside the gates. Following a 41-gun salute by the King's Troop in Green Park, she leads the Royal family on to the palace balcony for a Royal Air Force flypast.
A regiment's colours embody its service, as well as its fallen soldiers. The loss of a colour, or the capture of an enemy colour, were considered the greatest shame, or the greatest glory on a battlefield. Regimental colours are venerated by officers and soldiers of all ranks, second to the sovereign. Only battalions of infantry regiments of the line carry colours. Rifle regiments thus never carried colours, their battle honours are carried on their drums. The exception to this is the Honourable Artillery Company, which has both a stand of colours and guns. Trooping the Colour is an old ceremony whereby a battalion would fall in by companies and the colour-party would "troop" or march the colours through the ranks so that every man would see that the colours were intact; this was done after every battle. This ceremony has been retained through time and is today ceremonial. In the United Kingdom, Trooping the Colour is known as the Queen's Birthday Parade, it has marked the official birthday of the sovereign since 1748, has occurred annually since 1820.
From the reign of King Edward VII, the sovereign has taken the salute in person. It was Edward VII who moved Trooping the Colour to its June date, because of the vagaries of British weather. From 1979 to 2017 it was always held on the Saturday falling between 11–17 June. Trooping the Colour allows the troops of the Household Division to pay a personal tribute to the sovereign with great pomp and pageantry. Crowds lining the route and in St. James's Park listen to music performed by both massed and mounted bands; the Queen has attended Trooping the Colour in every year of her reign, except when prevented by a rail strike in 1955. Mounted herself, she commenced riding in a carriage in 1987. On 13 June 1981, she and her mount were startled by an unemployed youth, Marcus Sarjeant, who fired six blank rounds from a starting revolver. In her years attending on horseback, Her Majesty, as Colonel-in-Chief, wore a biretta and a Guards Regiment uniform with the medals she was awarded before becoming Queen and the riband and star of the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle or a combination of those orders, depending which regiment was trooping its colour.
Since 1987, she has not worn uniform, but wears the Brigade of Guards badge, a large brooch representing the different regiments that participate. Her 80th birthday in 2006 was marked by a large flypast of 40 planes led by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and culminating with the Red Arrows, it was followed by the first feu de joie fired in her presence during her reign, a second being fired at her Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012. In 2008, a flypast of 55 aircraft commemorated the RAF's 90th anniversary; the Unit presenting the Colours commences Troop practice in April provided that the company does not have other prior military operations. The entire parade will rehearse in full dress at Horse Guards Parade before the Major General's Review, such rehearsals are referred to as Guard Mount from Horse Guards; the Major General's Review and the Colonel's Review are scheduled on the Saturdays two and one weeks preceding the Queen's Birthda
President of the United States
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. In contemporary times, the president is looked upon as one of the world's most powerful political figures as the leader of the only remaining global superpower; the role includes responsibility for the world's most expensive military, which has the second largest nuclear arsenal. The president leads the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP; the president possesses international hard and soft power. Article II of the Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government, it vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The power includes the execution and enforcement of federal law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal executive, diplomatic and judicial officers, concluding treaties with foreign powers with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The president is further empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves, to convene and adjourn either or both houses of Congress under extraordinary circumstances. The president directs the foreign and domestic policies of the United States, takes an active role in promoting his policy priorities to members of Congress. In addition, as part of the system of checks and balances, Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution gives the president the power to sign or veto federal legislation; the power of the presidency has grown since its formation, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. Through the Electoral College, registered voters indirectly elect the president and vice president to a four-year term; this is the only federal election in the United States, not decided by popular vote. Nine vice presidents became president by virtue of a president's intra-term resignation. Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 sets three qualifications for holding the presidency: natural-born U. S. citizenship.
The Twenty-second Amendment precludes any person from being elected president to a third term. In all, 44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, so he is counted twice, as both the 22nd and 24th president. Donald Trump of New York is the current president of the United States, he assumed office on January 20, 2017. In July 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, the Thirteen Colonies, acting jointly through the Second Continental Congress, declared themselves to be 13 independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. Recognizing the necessity of coordinating their efforts against the British, the Continental Congress began the process of drafting a constitution that would bind the states together. There were long debates on a number of issues, including representation and voting, the exact powers to be given the central government. Congress finished work on the Articles of Confederation to establish a perpetual union between the states in November 1777 and sent it to the states for ratification.
Under the Articles, which took effect on March 1, 1781, the Congress of the Confederation was a central political authority without any legislative power. It could make its own resolutions and regulations, but not any laws, could not impose any taxes or enforce local commercial regulations upon its citizens; this institutional design reflected how Americans believed the deposed British system of Crown and Parliament ought to have functioned with respect to the royal dominion: a superintending body for matters that concerned the entire empire. The states were out from under any monarchy and assigned some royal prerogatives to Congress; the members of Congress elected a President of the United States in Congress Assembled to preside over its deliberation as a neutral discussion moderator. Unrelated to and quite dissimilar from the office of President of the United States, it was a ceremonial position without much influence. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies.
With peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. By 1786, Americans found their continental borders besieged and weak and their respective economies in crises as neighboring states agitated trade rivalries with one another, they witnessed their hard currency pouring into foreign markets to pay for imports, their Mediterranean commerce preyed upon by North African pirates, their foreign-financed Revolutionary War debts unpaid and accruing interest. Civil and political unrest loomed. Following the successful resolution of commercial and fishing disputes between Virginia and Maryland at the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785, Virginia called for a trade conference between all the states, set for September 1786 in Annapolis, with an aim toward resolving further-reaching interstate commercial antagonisms; when the convention failed for lack of attendance due to suspicions among most of the other states, Alexander Hamilton led the Annapolis delegates in a call for a convention to offer revisions to the Articles, to be held the next spring in Philadelphia.
Prospects for the next convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washington's attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. When the Constitutional Convention convened in May 1787, the 12 state delegations in attendance (Rh
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent to the north and east, Surrey to the north west and West Sussex to the west, to the south by the English Channel. East Sussex is part of the historic county of Sussex, which has its roots in the ancient kingdom of the South Saxons, who established themselves there in the 5th century AD, after the departure of the Romans. Archaeological remains are plentiful in the upland areas; the area's position on the coast has meant that there were many invaders, including the Romans and the Normans. Earlier industries have included fishing, iron-making, the wool trade, all of which have declined, or been lost completely. Sussex is traditionally sub-divided into six rapes. From the 12th century the three eastern rapes together and the three western rapes together had separate quarter sessions, with the county town of the three eastern rapes being Lewes; this situation was formalised by Parliament in 1865, the two parts were made into administrative counties, each with distinct elected county councils in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888.
In East Sussex there were three self-administered county boroughs: Brighton and Hastings. In 1974 East Sussex was made a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county, the three county boroughs became districts within the county. At the same time the western boundary was altered, so that the Mid Sussex region was transferred to the county of West Sussex. In 1997, Brighton and Hove became a self-administered unitary authority. East Sussex is divided into five local government districts. Three are larger, districts: Lewes. Eastbourne and Hastings are urban areas; the rural districts are further subdivided into civil parishes. From a geological point of view East Sussex is part of southern anticline of the Weald: the South Downs, a range of moderate chalk hills which run across the southern part of the county from west to east and mirrored in Kent by the North Downs. To the north lie parallel valleys and ridges, the highest of, the Weald itself; the sandstones and clays meet the sea at Hastings. The area contains significant reserves of shale oil, totalling 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the Wealden basin according to a 2014 study, which Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said "will bring jobs and business opportunities" and help with UK energy self-sufficiency.
Fracking in the area is required to achieve these objectives, opposed by environmental groups. East Sussex, like most counties by the south coast, has an annual average total of around 1,750 hours of sunshine per year; this is much higher than the UK's average of about 1,340 hours of sunshine a year. The relief of the county reflects the geology; the chalk uplands of the South Downs occupies the coastal strip between Eastbourne. There are two river gaps: Cuckmere; the Seven Sisters, where the Downs meet the sea, are the remnants of dry valleys cut into the chalk. To the east of Beachy Head lie the marshlands of the Pevensey Levels flooded by the sea but now enclosed within a deposited beach. At Bexhill the land begins to rise again where the clays of the Weald meet the sea. Further east are the Pett Levels, more marshland, beyond, the estuary of the River Rother. On the far side of the estuary are the dunes of Camber Sands; the highest point of the Downs within the county is Ditchling Beacon, at 814 feet: it is termed a Marilyn.
The Weald occupies the northern borderlands of the county. Between the Downs and Weald is a narrow stretch of lower lying land; the High Weald is wooded in contrast to the South Downs. Part of the Weald is the Ashdown Forest; the location of settlements in East Sussex has been determined both by its history and its geography. The original towns and villages tended to be where its economy lay: fishing along the coast and agriculture and iron mining on the Weald. Industry today tends to be geared towards tourism, along the coastal strip. Here towns such as Bexhill-on-Sea and Hastings lie. Newhaven and Rye are ports, although the latter is of historical importance. Peacehaven and Seaford are more dormitory towns than anything else. Away from the coast lie former market towns such as Hailsham and Uckfield. Lewes, the County town of East Sussex; this is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
The Seven Sisters Park is part of the South Downs National Park. Beachy Head is one of the most famed local attractions, along with the flats along Normans Bay. Apart from the physical landmarks such as the Downs and the Weald, East Sussex has a great many landmarks of historical interest. There are castles at Bodiam, Herstmonceux and Pevensey. Battle Abbey, built to commemorate the Battle of Hastings.
National Service of Remembrance
The National Service of Remembrance is held annually on Remembrance Sunday at The Cenotaph on Whitehall, London. It commemorates "the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and conflicts"; the service has changed little in format since. To open the ceremony, a selection of national airs and solemn music representing each of the nations of the United Kingdom are played by massed bands and pipes. A short religious service is held with a two-minute silence commencing when Big Ben chimes at 11 O'Clock. Following this, wreaths are laid by the Queen and members of the British Royal Family, senior politicians representing their respective political parties and High commissioners from the Commonwealth of Nations. After a short religious service, a march-past of hundreds of veterans processes past the Cenotaph, it is held on the second Sunday in November, the Sunday nearest to 11 November, Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of hostilities in the First World War at 11 a.m. in 1918.
The ceremony has been broadcast nationally by the BBC on radio since 1928 and was first broadcast by the BBC Television Service in 1937. The Cenotaph has its origin in a temporary wood and plaster structure designed by Edwin Lutyens for a peace parade following the end of the First World War. Lutyens was inspired by the Greek idea of a cenotaph Greek: κενοτάφιον kenotaphion, as representative for a tomb elsewhere or in a place unknown. For some time after the parade, the base of the memorial was covered with flowers and wreaths by members of the public. Pressure mounted to retain it, the British War Cabinet decided on 30 July 1919 that a permanent memorial should replace the wooden version and be designated Britain's official national war memorial. Lutyens's permanent structure was built from Portland stone between 1919 and 1920 by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts as a "replica exact in every detail in permanent material of present temporary structure"; the memorial was unveiled by King George V on 11 November 1920, the second anniversary of the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War.
The unveiling ceremony was part of a larger procession bringing the Unknown Warrior to be laid to rest in his tomb nearby in Westminster Abbey. The funeral procession route passed the Cenotaph, where the waiting King laid a wreath on the Unknown Warrior's gun-carriage before proceeding to unveil the memorial, draped in large Union Flags. During the Second World War, the National Service and other commemorations were moved from Armistice Day itself to the preceding Sunday as an emergency measure, to minimise any loss of wartime production. In 1945, 11 November fell on a Sunday but in 1946, following a national debate, the government announced that the Cenotaph ceremony would henceforward on take place on Remembrance Sunday; the ceremony begins at 10:36 a.m. with a programme of music known as "the Traditional Music", a sequence beginning with "Rule Britannia!" which has remained unchanged since 1930. This comprises a selection of National Airs and solemn music representing the four nations of the United Kingdom performed by the massed bands of the Household Division interposed Pipes and Drums from the Highlanders 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The massed band represents the four nations. As the band plays "Dido's Lament" by Henry Purcell, the clergy led by a cross bearer and the choir of the Chapel Royal process; the service is led by the Dean of the Chapels Royal the Bishop of London. During Solemn Melody by Henry Walford Davies, high commissioners and religious leaders from many faiths assemble; the parade stands to attention in silence. As Big Ben strikes 11 a.m. the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire a single shot salute from First World War-era guns on Horse Guards Parade. Two minutes' silence is observed; the silence represents the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, when the guns of Europe fell silent. This silence is ended by Gunners of the Royal Horse Artillery firing a gun salute Royal Marines buglers sound The Last Post; the Massed Band plays "Beethoven Funeral March No.1" by Johann Heinrich Walch as wreaths laid by the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition leaders of major political parties and the Foreign Secretary.
A short religious service of remembrance is conducted by the Bishop of London in their capacity as Dean of the Chapel Royal. The hymn O God Our Help In Ages Past is sung, led by the massed bands and the Choir of the Chapel Royal; the whole assembly recites Lord's Prayer. The Rouse is played by the buglers, followed by the national anthem, God Save the Queen being sung by all; the Queen bows to the Cenotaph, the Prince of Wales salutes it and royal party depart. After the ceremony, as the bands play, a huge parade of veterans, organised by the Royal British Legion, marches past the Cenotaph. Members of the Reserve Forces and cadet organisations join in with the marching, alongside volunteers from St John Ambulance, paramedics from the London Ambulance Service, conflict veterans from World War II, the Falklands, the Persian Gulf, Kos
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales, was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, the mother of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Diana was born into the Spencer family, a family of British nobility, she was the youngest daughter of Viscount and Viscountess Althorp, she grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, was educated in England and Switzerland. In 1975, after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer, she became known as Lady Diana Spencer. Diana came to prominence in February 1981 upon engagement to Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, their wedding took place at St Paul's Cathedral on 29 July 1981 and made her Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Chester. The marriage produced two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were respectively second and third in the line of succession to the British throne; as Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions overseas.
She was celebrated for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Diana was involved with dozens of charities including London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, of which she was president from 1989, she raised awareness and advocated ways to help people affected with HIV/AIDS, mental illness. Diana remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996 following well-publicised extramarital affairs by both parties. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in a Paris tunnel on 31 August 1997 and subsequent televised funeral. Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961, in Park House, Norfolk, she was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, his first wife, Frances. The Spencer family has been allied with the British royal family for several generations; the Spencers were hoping for a boy to carry on the family line, no name was chosen for a week, until they settled on Diana Frances, after her mother and after Lady Diana Spencer, a many-times-great-aunt, a prospective Princess of Wales.
On 30 August 1961, Diana was baptised at Sandringham. She grew up with three siblings: Sarah and Charles, her infant brother, died shortly after his birth one year before Diana was born. The desire for an heir added strain to the Spencers' marriage, Lady Althorp was sent to Harley Street clinics in London to determine the cause of the "problem"; the experience was described as "humiliating" by Diana's younger brother, Charles: "It was a dreadful time for my parents and the root of their divorce because I don't think they got over it." Diana grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate. The Spencers leased the house from its owner, Queen Elizabeth II; the royal family holidayed at the neighbouring Sandringham House, Diana played with the Queen's sons Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. Diana was seven years old, her mother began a relationship with Peter Shand Kydd and married him in 1969. Diana lived with her mother in London during her parents' separation in 1967, but during that year's Christmas holidays, Lord Althorp refused to let Diana return to London with Lady Althorp.
Shortly afterwards he won custody of Diana with support from his former mother-in-law, Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy. In 1976, Lord Althorp married Countess of Dartmouth. Diana's relationship with her stepmother was bad, she resented Raine, whom she called a "bully", on one occasion Diana "pushed her down the stairs". She described her childhood as "very unhappy" and "very unstable, the whole thing". Diana became known as Lady Diana after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975, at which point her father moved the entire family from Park House to Althorp, the Spencer seat in Northamptonshire. Diana was home-schooled under the supervision of her governess, Gertrude Allen, she began her formal education at Silfield Private School in Gayton and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Thetford, when she was nine. She joined her sisters at West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1973, she did not shine academically. Her outstanding community spirit was recognised with an award from West Heath.
She left West Heath. Her brother Charles recalls her as being quite shy up until that time, she showed a talent for music as an accomplished pianist. Diana excelled in swimming and diving, studied ballet and tap dance. After attending Institut Alpin Videmanette for one term in 1978, Diana returned to London, where she shared her mother's flat with two school friends. In London, she took an advanced cooking course, but cooked for her roommates, she took a series of low-paying jobs. She found employment as a playgroup pre-school assistant, did some cleaning work for her sister Sarah and several of her friends, acted as a hostess at parties. Diana spent time working as a nanny for the Robertsons, an American family living in London, worked as a nursery teacher's assistant at the Young England School in Pimlico. In July 1979, her mother bought her a flat at Coleherne Court in Earl's Court as an 18
